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Thursday, July 27, 2017

Symphony For The City Of The Dead

"National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson delivers a
brilliant and riveting account of the Siege of Leningrad and the role played by
Russian composer Shostakovich and his Leningrad Symphony. In September
1941, Adolf Hitler's Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to become one
of the longest and most destructive sieges in Western history--almost three
years of bombardment and starvation that culminated in the harsh winter of
1943--1944. More than a million citizens perished. Survivors recall corpses
littering the frozen streets, their relatives having neither the means nor the
strength to bury them. Residents burned books, furniture, and floorboards to
keep warm; they ate family pets and--eventually--one another to stay alive.
Trapped between the Nazi invading force and the Soviet government itself was
composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who would write a symphony that roused, rallied,
eulogized, and commemorated his fellow citizens--the Leningrad Symphony, which
came to occupy a surprising place of prominence in the eventual Allied victory.
This is the true story of a city under siege: the triumph of bravery and
defiance in the face of terrifying odds. It is also a look at the power--and
layered meaning--of music in beleaguered lives. Symphony for the City of the
Dead is a masterwork thrillingly told and impeccably researched by National
Book Award--winning author M. T. Anderson." This was hard to read because of the subject
matter. Anderson doesn't stint on writing about the hardships the people
of Leningrad endured or on the brutality of Stalin's government. However,
it was well written and Anderson makes the subject matter fascinating, even in
the midst of the horror. I would definitely recommend this to history
buffs.